VN Bike Lab tests four aero bikes

By Ben Delaney

Published Feb. 21, 2011

Updated Feb. 22, 2011 at 7:32 PM EDT

In the April issue of VeloNews, we present the new VN Bike Lab — where comparative data from two labs and long-term ride testing meets expert analysis. The complete bicycle testing is an extension of our award-winning wheel testing in the magazine. (You can read that piece for free here at Coverleaf. It’s in the September 2010 issue, with a certain Tejay Van Garderen and the words “Cycling’s Future” on the cover. Judging by Van Garderen’s second-place result at Algarve, the future is now.)

In this first installment, we tested four aero bikes: Ridley’s Noah, Felt’s AR1, Blue Competition Cycle’s AC1SL and Cervelo’s S3. Each bike was ridden for at least 30 hours, and then subjected to torsional stiffness testing in Colorado and aerodynamic drag testing in North Carolina. We created the torsional stiffness test with Microbac Laboratories, Inc,. to replicate and measure the effects of pedaling load on a bike. The wind tunnel testing was performed by Mike Giraud at A2 Wind Tunnel, where each bike was measured in 10 different wind angles, both with its stock wheel with a pair of Zipp 404s.

The April issue will be on newsstands March 1, and subscribers will begin receiving it this week.